Albert fenimore rockwell



(No Model.)

A. F. ROCKWELL.

BICYCLE BELL.

No. 575,069. Patented Jan. 12, 1897.

UNITED STATES ALBERT FENIMORE ROCKWVELL,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR BICYCLE-BELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 57 5,069, datedJanuary 12, 1897.

Application filed July 10, 1896. Serial No. 598,721. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT FENIMORE ROCKWELL, of Bristol, in the countyof Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Bells; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a gong-bell which comesunder the head of what has come to be known as a double-stroke bell.Such a bell has been found to be a desirable one in practice and to bepopular among users, although my invention is equally applicable to manyother forms of bells, as will appear more fully hereinafter.

Without attempting to detail all of the essentials of such a bell, it isevident that those most worthy of consideration are as follows: First,it should be neat and attractive in appearance and capable ofmanufacture in different sizes; second, simplicity and cheapness inconstruction are indispensable, andto this end it should consist of 'asfew parts as possible; third, it should be easy of adjustment, both topromote cheapness in manufacture and convenience of manipulation andregulation by the non-expert user; fourth, it should be capable ofgiving forth two strokes at one manipulation which should be clear andresonant, thus effecting an unmistakable and distinguishable alarm;fifth, it should not rattle when subjected to jars upon a vehicle andshould not readily get out of order.

I am aware of many attempts to make a bell possessing thesecharacteristics, some of which have been to a greater or less degreesuccessful. Each,however,hasfailedinsome one or more of theseessentials.

To the end of overcoming the difficulties heretofore encountered and ofmeeting the requirements above set forth my invention consists in thedetails of the several parts of a bell and their combination in a bell,as is hereinafter more particularly described, and pointed out in theclaims.

In the construction of double-stroke'bells the following necessitiespresent themselves:

first, the maintenance of the striker normally out of contact with theg'on g,so as not to check the vibrations thereof except when a blow isstruck; second, the impingement of the striker sharply against the gongat one side to sound the same and its immediate recoil; third, the sharpimpingement, reciprocally, of the striker against the gong on the otherside and its immediate recoil.

Reference is to behad to the annexed drawings, and to the letters markedthereon, forming a part of this specification, the same lettersdesignating the same parts or features wherever they occur.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bellattached to the handle-bar of a bicycle (in outline) with the gongbroken away so as to show the arrangement of parts. Fig. 2'is a planView of the bell in normal position as viewed from above. Fig. 3 is aplan view of the bell in the same position but with the gong removed,showing the position of the parts after pressure upon the thumb-piece.The normal position of parts is shown by dotted lines. Fig. 4 is adetailed perspective view of the striker-mount and spring. Fig. 5 is aplan view of the interior of the bell, looked at from below, with thebase-piece removed.

In the accompanying drawings the letter a designates the base-piece,which may be provided with any one of the usual means of attachment tothe handle-bar of the bicycle or other support.

Z) is the gong, also of any usual desired ma terial and construction. Apost a, fixed preferably in the center of the base, supports the gong,which may be secured thereto by a screw-thread thereon, or by any othersuitable means.

d is a lever pivoted to the base-piece, as at c. This pivot ispreferably located as near as possible to the circumference of the gong,both for convenience of manufacture and for obvious advantages in use. Aspiral spring f holds the lever in position, being attached to the leverinside the pivot at g at one end and at the other to a stud fixed to thebasepiece at g. The material of the lever must be brass or some metalwhich will permit the formation of a fork with two resilient prongs 11*(1 extending either side of the central post (2, which serves as a meansto limit the motion of the lever. This is a convenient construction,although any other limiting means may be used, as, for instance, if thegong were attached to the basepieee by a curved standard, as issometimes theease. At its outer end the lever is constructed so as toform the familiar finger-piece of a bicyclebell (7'. Means, (not shown,)however, for at taehing the end of a rope or wire connecting with abell-pull or push-button may take the place of this finger-piece, or anymeans may be used to oscillate the lever so as to cause it to performits function, that is, to propel and control the movement of thestrikermount.

At a point a little to one side of a line drawn through the pivot e andpost 0 and near the edge of the base-piece is fixed a post 7, providedat its upper extremity with a head. This post h serves as a support andpivot for the striker-mount,which is preferably, but not necessarily,east in one piece and consists of the hub m, from the upper end of whichextends the crank or arm l. At the inner end of the arm 7 is a striker7.", having double ends, as 7;. 7.

A small pin 11. is attached to the striker-arm just back of the strikerand projects from its under side. Carried by this pin are two rolls 0and p. The smaller roll 0 is the lower in position on the'pin and isgrooved around its circumference, or so constructed that the end of asmall wire spring may be conveniently coiled around it and engage itsecurely.

r is a small wire spring bent into a substantially semicircular form andcoiled loosely around the central post at one end and securely attachedto the small roll 0 at the other.

The prongs d? d bear against the roll 1) in operating the bell.

The operation of the bell now becomes clear. By pressure upon thefinger-piece the prong (P, acting upon the roll 17, moves thestrikermount against the force of the spring 0' away from the positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. By experiment it will be found thatthere is a center of equilibrium at which the striker-mount will besubstantially or actually stationary, that is, at which the spring rwillexert no force in either direction. Having been caused to pass thatpoint by the pressure of the prong, the spring acts upon thestriker-mount, forcing it toward the position shown in full lines inFig. 3 and causing the end 7t" of the striker-head to impinge sharplyagainst the gong and sound the same. The prongs of the fork of the leverare, as heretofore remarked, made of some metal having resilientqualities, and they are so adjusted as to bear upon the roll 19 and holdthe striker normally out of contact with the gong. As the roll,therefore, strikes the prong d the prong will give and permit thestriker to impinge against the gong, but will immediately spring back,causing the striker to rebound instantly from contact with the gong.Thereupon pressure upon the finger-piece being released, the resilientaction of the spring f will cause the prong d to bear against the roll,carrying the strikermount back past the center, when in the manneralready described the spring 7' will cause the striker-head to impingeupon the gong, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, the prong dcausing it to immediately rebound.

The prongs must not only be made of metal having resilient qualities,but must be adapted in size to permit them to perform the desiredfunction, to wit, to hold the striker normally out of contact with thegong when at rest, as illustrated by striker-mount k in dotted lines inFig. 3, and to give sufliciently to permit the striker to impingeagainst the gong when the striker-mount is forced against the prong, asshown at Ya, Fig. This is further illustrated by Fig. 5. Pressure uponthe lever at d has forced the striker-mormt away from its normalposition as held by the springf, the pressure has been released, and thespring f has actuated the lever and prong (Z to propel the striker-mountup to and past the center of equilibrium. Here the spring 0' comes intoplay and drives the strikermount into the position shown in Fig. 5. Ifthe prong d is rigid, the striker will stop at the position shown infull lines and the strikerpoint 7; will fail toimpinge against the gen".The prong (1 however, is resilient, and the roller 9 striking it causesit to give and momentarilyto be forced into the position shown in dottedlines, Fig. 5, at 70 when the resiliency of the prong causes it tospring back and draw the striker-point 7t" away from the gen It will beobserved that very few parts are required in this construction andthatthe action of the working parts is capable of easy adjustment by thenon-expert user by springing the resilient prongs one way or the otherand by increasing or diminishing the power of the two springs.

I have called this bell a double-stroke bell because by a singlepressure upon the finger-piece two separate blows are struck upon thegong and two sharp resonant tones are produced in quick succession. Iwish to point out the fact, however, thatby a reasonably quickmanipulation of the thumb-piece a substantially continuous or electricringing may be secured. By removing or omitting the spring f or byholding firmly the thumb piece after pressure in one direction a singlestroke is made. Thus while primarily designed as a d0uble-stroke bellthis is a combination of single-stroke, double-stroke, and continuous orelectric stroke hell.

I have chosen to describe somewhat minutely one form of embodiment of myinven tion, but I wish it to be understood thatl do not limit myself tothe exact construction set forth, which it is plain maybe varied in manyof my invention.

of its details without departing from the spirit I have, for example,used for illustration the bell as attached to a bicycle or handle-bar.By varying the form of mode of attachment by well-known ordinary meansit is equally effective for use in or on other vehicles and for door orcall bells or for practically any use to which a bell can be put.

The essence of my invention is in the'method of effectuating the alarmthrough the lever with its resilient prongs, the striker-mount, and itsactuating-spring.

I claim as my invention the following-described novel features,substantially as hereinbefore specified, namely:

1. A gong-bell, comprising in its construction a base-piece and gong, aspring-actuated striker-mount provided with a striker, and a leverprovided with resilient prongs for propelling, and controlling themovement of, the striker-mount.

2. A gong-bell comprising in its. construction a base-piece and gong, aspring-actuated striker-mount provided with a striker, and a lever,spring-actuated in one direction and provided with resilient prongs forpropelling and controlling the movement of the strikermount.

3. A gong-bell, comprising in its construction a base-piece and gong, astriker-mount provided with a striker, a spring for actuating the samein either direction from a center, and

a lever provided with resilient prongs for propelling, and controllingthe movement of, the striker-mount.

4:. In a gong-bell mechanism a lever pivoted to the base piece providedwith resilient prongs for propelling, and controlling the movement of,the striking mechanism.

5. In gong-bell mechanism a striker-mount comprising in its constructiona hub, a crank or arm on the hub, a striker on the crank or arm providedwith a pin carrying a roll, and a spring coiled loosely around a supportat one end and secured to the roll of the strikermount at the other foractuating the strikermount in either direction from a center ofequilibrium. I

6. A gong-bell, comprising in its construction a base-piece and gong; astriker-mount constructed of a hub, a crank or arm on the hub, a strikeron the end of the crank or arm, a pin carrying two rolls; a springcoiled loosely about a support at one end and attached to the lower ofsaid rolls at the other for actuating the striker-mount in eitherdirection from a center; and a lever, spring-actuated in one direction,constructed with means of manipulation and having resilient prongs, andlimited in movement so as to propel the striker-mount, by bearingagainst the upper of said rolls past the center in either direction, butmaintaining the same normally out of contact with the gong except at theinstant of impingement.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT FENIMORE ROCKWELL.

Witnesses:

MosEs WILooX BARTLETT, Jr., JOHN J. JENNINGS.

